106 pages • 3 hours read
Rick RiordanThe Sword of Summer
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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BetaChapters 24-27Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 24 Summary: “You Had One Job”
The recycling shoot deposits Magnus, Hearth, and Blitz in Fenway Park a little before dawn. Blitz’s cheeks start to turn gray. Dwarves are subterranean creatures and can’t stand sunlight for very long. The three take shelter in the Green Monster in Fenway Park’s left outfield. While they wait for sundown, Blitz reveals he and Hearth “had one job” (163): to keep Magnus alive. They failed, but all may not be lost since Magnus went to Valhalla.
Blitz and Hearth fill in the details of what happened after Magnus died. They searched but didn’t find the sword, which means either that Surt has it or, more likely, that it will rematerialize near Magnus’s corpse since he claimed the weapon first by touching it. The group splits up. Blitz goes to check with the boss while Hearth and Magnus go to the funeral home where Magnus’s body is laid out. Blitz departs with a final warning for Magnus to be careful because away from Valhalla, “you can die like anybody else” (167).
Chapter 25 Summary: “My Funeral Director Dresses Me Funny”
On the way to the funeral home, Hearth spots a cop who knows Magnus. While they hide and wait for him to pass, Magnus asks Hearth about alf seidr. Hearth defines it as “usually peaceful magic” but isn’t sure why Magnus would have the ability (170).
At the funeral home, Hearth stands guard outside while Magnus goes in. Viewing his body scares Magnus more than dying, and to get under control, he fixates on the “cheap-looking blue suit with a blue tie” the funeral director put him in (173-74). Magnus checks the entire coffin, but there’s no sign of the sword. He turns to leave and finds Annabeth standing in the viewing room doorway.
Chapter 26 Summary: “Hey, I Know You’re Dead, but Call Me Maybe”
After an emotional reunion, Annabeth interrogates Magnus about his supposed death. Magnus dances around the truth, telling Annabeth he’s in a dangerous situation and doesn’t want to get her involved. Annabeth offers to help. Magnus turns her down, saying he has “to do this by myself” (179). Annabeth understands and gives Magnus her phone number in case he changes his mind or needs help.
An injured Hearth stumbles into the funeral home, signing wildly that there’s danger. He and Magnus meet up with Blitz, who’s carrying a bowling ball bag. Hearth explains a girl jumped out a second-story window, knocked him out, and then disappeared. The three figure she was inside and made a run for it when she heard Magnus coming. Blitz asks if she had the sword, and Hearth signs no because he sees the girl across the street not carrying a weapon. Hearth’s injury came “compliments of Samirah al-Abbas” (181).
Chapter 27 Summary: “Let’s Play Frisbee with Bladed Weapons!”
Magnus, Hearth, and Blitz follow Sam for a while before losing track of her. Magnus explains how Sam was kicked out of the Valkyries and that Loki is her father. Hearth asks if she’s working for her father. Despite Sam’s questionable behavior, Magnus wants to believe she isn’t “playing for Team Evil” (183).
Blitz’s legs start to petrify, and the group takes shelter in the shadow of a building. Blitz speculates Sam is headed to check the river for the sword, but Magnus knows it isn’t there—he can just feel it. Before they can come up with a new plan, Sam attacks, sending Magnus flying against a tree. Sam engages Hearth in battle, and Magnus throws his sword, Frisbee style, disarming Sam. The four call a truce to discuss the sword. Sam swears she’s loyal to Odin and that she needs to find the sword because it’s her only chance to be reinstated as a Valkyrie. At a dead end for information, Blitz hefts his bowling bag. Inside are answers, “whether we want them or not” (188).
Chapters 24-27 Analysis
Blitz’s warning in Chapter 24 is ironic. Magnus’s death improved his situation in several ways. He went from homeless to a five-star hotel and gained new strength. However, for all Valhalla’s benefits, einherjar are not invincible. Despite his new strength and skills, Magnus is in more danger walking around Midgard than he is in the midst of a battle in Valhalla. Away from the hotel, Magnus and the other warriors can die like anyone else, a fact that foreshadows how Halfborn almost dies in the battle against Fenris Wolf and the giants. Their vulnerability outside Valhalla puts the hotel’s hierarchy into perspective. In Valhalla, ranks and length of stay divide the warriors, but anywhere else, they all have the same disadvantage, showing how hierarchies and social structures are dependent on outside factors.
In Chapter 18, Halfborn warns Magnus not to return to Midgard so soon after his death because doing so can complicate things. Chapter 25 shows some such complications. Magnus faces his own corpse, which is far more traumatizing than his death and something he was never meant to see. In addition to being vulnerable outside the hotel, Magnus isn’t blessed with the supernatural ability to deal with emotionally disturbing images. He must deal with seeing his body with the same skills as a mortal. Annabeth also represents a complication. She knew Magnus in life and is connected to others who did as well.
The Norse world in The Sword of Summer and the Greek gods of Percy Jackson almost collide in this chapter. Having experienced her fair share of things mortals would consider impossible, Annabeth is open to mythological explanations for Magnus appearing alive. Magnus wants to trust her but doesn’t want to get her involved in the strangeness of his world, which is ironic since Annabeth is a Greek demigod. Annabeth’s offering to help and leaving Magnus with a way to contact her foreshadows how they swap stories at the book’s end, bringing the two series fully together.
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